The Flying Stars
|next = }} " " is the second episode of the first season of Father Brown. Synopsis The Flying Stars is a valuable necklace belonging to the theatrical Adams family that someone is prepared to murder for. Plot Father Brown and Mrs McCarthy are going to visit the Adams family for a play being performed on the birthday of Adams's daughter Ruby. Mrs McCarthy mentions how idyllic the family is, but Father Brown insists that nobody's perfect. At the Adams's home matriarch Anne-Marie is putting on the family diamond necklace - The Flying Stars. Her husband, Colonel Adams comes in to help her and notices that she has alcohol on her breath as well as an almost-finished bottle of vodka in a drawer. After he expresses his discontent, she out of spit drinks remainder of vodka in bottle, two sips at most. Outraged that his alcoholic wife has relapsed, he demands a divorce; but Anne-Marie angrily reminds him of their Catholic wedding vows of being marriage till death. All the while Susie - working as a cleaner for the family - overhears the argument. Outside, the couple's daughter Ruby is fooling around with her mentor, the young and American John Van Ert, the playacting develops into a kiss shared between the young couple which is quickly interrupted by the arrival of Ruby's godmother: Lady Felicia. Ruby explains that the couple plan to make their relationship public and publicise their intent to get married; however Anne-Marie overhears and refuses to allow it over her dead body, she the drunkenly insults Van Ert and promptly fires him. Father Brown and Mrs McCarthy arrive at the Adams residence only to find that Ruby's play has been cancelled due to Anne-Marie's drunken state (though disguised as illness). Van Ert begrudgingly leaves but insists to the Colonel that he and Ruby will still see each other, Ruby is incensed at her father's actions and storms off, he father retorts that asking her mother won't give a different answer; in fact it won't give any answer as Anne-Marie's body is floating the the boating lake. Inspector Valentine initially dismisses the death as an accident due to Anne-Marie's drunken state. Father Brown notices scratches around her neck but Valentine still remains insistent. A few days later at St. Mary's, Lady Felicia informs Father Brown of Anne-Marie's alcoholism and the pair run into Anne-Marie's brother James, paying his respects to his recently-passed nanny Agnes Short. Having just flown in from Nairobi, the pair unfortunately have to inform him of his sister's death. Later, at the Adams residence Father Brown investigates how Anne-Marie could have died, the belief she may have drunkenly fell in is dashed when he finds blood on an oar in the boat moored to the jetty. At a remembrance service, Valentine arrives and reveals that Susie has reported the earlier argument between Anne-Marie and the Colonel to Valentine. Everyone is quick to defend the Colonel and question whether Van Ert is responsible, having been thrown out of the United States for his communist beliefs and his likely hatred for the upper class. However, based on Susie's testimony, Valentine has no alternative but to bring the Colonel in for questioning. At Anne-Marie's funeral, Van Ert pulls Ruby into the confessional and insists he didn't kill her mother, Valentine has also allowed the Colonel to attend. Lady Felicia informs Father Brown that the Colonel is unable to act as pallbearer due to his back being shot from the war. Father Brown points the fact out to Valentine, the Colonel wouldn't have the strength to lift the oar to hit his wife, at this point Valentine notices Van Ert slip out of the church. Later on, at the execution of Anne-Marie's will, a few trinkets are bequeathed to Lady Felicia, the Flying Stars to Ruby, and surprisingly the rest to the Church with nothing going to James. Nevertheless, James is unhurt by this omission and reveals he is motivated to perform the play that had been previously cancelled. Later, Ruby plans with Van Ert to use the play as a distraction for the pair to elope together. Father Brown comes to the assumption that the scratches on Anne-Marie's neck were from the killer trying to steal The Flying Stars he immediately rules out Van Ert as his communist beliefs would mean he had no interest in such worldly goods, the only suspect left is James. Back at the Adams house, Sid and Susie witness James sneaking out of the house in the night. The next morning, Father Brown learns that there were no flights from Nairobi that landed on the morning he met James. However Lady Felicia strongly denies his involvement, confessing that he has been sneaking out to see her. Valentine also informs him that James has an ironclad alibi of still being in Nairobi when Anne-Marie was murdered. Shortly before the play begins, Valentine informs Father Brown that he's planning on bringing Lady Felicia in for questioning after the play has finished. Behind the stage, Lady Felicia asks for Susie to find some smaller shoes for James, but Susie informs her that the shoes she found were his. Concerned, Lady Felicia checks these bigger shoes and finds James' name stitched into them, James comes in and she hands him the shoes to put on. The shoes are visibly too big, this man isn't the real James. Before she can inform the real police she is called to the stage where she breaks character but the audience (bar Father Brown notices) her character is then subdued by James' character (dressed in drag) and locked in a crate as per the script. However the play is interrupted when the Colonel rushes on stage and states that the Flying Stars have been stolen. Father Brown leaves and speaks to Sid outside, he mentions that a woman came out and got in a taxi to the railway station, the pair then drive off to catch up. Inside the house, Van Ert is found and the secret plan to elope is also discovered, however the Flying Stars are not found and neither is Lady Felicia. They then check the trunk that she was thrown into during the play to find her out cold, James had knocked her out with a chloroform rag. On board the train, Father Brown finds James and informs him that he knows that James is an impostor and he killed Anne-Marie. The Italian coin found by the jetty hadn't escaped through the hole in the Father's pocket, (which was full of foreign currency left by scrupulous people in the Church donation box), the coin belonged to "James" who clearly hadn't been in Africa, but he had been in Italy. This man wasn't paying respect to his nanny earlier, but to his mother. He is really Michael Short, her son. Michael had come back from a long stay in Italy to find his mother had died and buried in a pauper's grave, he was furious at the way his mother had been effectively cast-out to die in poverty whilst the family lived in wealth. He had gone to demand payment from Anne-Marie but her drunken state made her aggressive and in a struggle over the oar, Anne-Marie received a blow to the head and fell into the water, but Michael couldn't save her because he can't swim. Father Brown points out that the family had no money to give him, the items left to the Church in her will were a few sentimental items of no value; he urges Martin to hand over the Flying Stars and turn himself in. However, he flees the compartment and Father Brown and Sid give chase down the train. Michael jumps out at the back and has seemingly escaped from the pair, until he is hit and killed by a train travelling on the other line. At this point Sid reveals that the priest didn't need to get the Flying Stars back to Ruby as the diamonds were fakes. At the Adams residence, the Colonel comes clean about the family's financial status and that the Flying Stars were sold off and replica was designed to save face. He was pinning his hopes on Ruby marrying into another wealthy family, hence his resistance to her relationship with Van Ert. Father Brown arrives and urges the Colonel to allow the pair to get married without this spectre of wealth hanging above their heads. Ruby and Van Ert are later married at St. Mary's, A now-recovered Lady Felicia notices that Agnes' grave marker has been updated to include Michael and she regrets falling for him, that is until she sees another handsome face in the crowd, it is the real Uncle James. The whole group pose for a photograph to mark the happy occasion. Notable Quotes Notes Category:Season 1